"Yet, you shall be a king to rule over them all, if you pass."
"And if I do not pass the test?"
"There are others of the Reshaim blood."
"This cave, is it the same Cave of Echoes spoken of by Ishuye in the Holy Aishanna?"
"It is the same. There is a staircase cut straight into the rock underground." He pointed in back of him to another doorway that lead into utter darkness. "Once you begin your descent, you will hear voices below, echoes of ancient voices of those long dead or gone. They are gone but the cave was designed to capture the wisdom of the words of those who walked here before. Of course, you must go alone. The voices will not impart anything to you unless you are alone." Saujiah took up the stone ewer from the stone table, poured water into a stone cup and handed it to Rapheth. It was so heavy he nearly dropped it. Hanging on to the cup tightly with both hands, Rapheth sat down in front of him and drank it. The water was ice cold, cleansing and it imbued in him strength and power. It was purer than any water he had ever tasted. In it he saw an army of glittering stars. He set the cup down and closed his eyes.
"You are feeling strength flow through you. You will need it." Rapheth touched his chest. The pain returned but he did not collapse this time.
"Do you need more? Drink your fill." Rapheth drank three cups, seven, for he knew these were divine numbers and gave spiritual emphasis for the journey he would take. Three times for emphasis and intensity and seven for divine completeness. Each time he lifted the cup it became lighter.
"The cave is nearly as old as the world itself. Some walked it before there was paper or stone to write upon." As he said this Rapheth felt wisps of finger tips on his skin. He lifted his tunic and saw writing upon his body. Ilim had spoken of this phenomenon as well.
"What do you mean? Who are the voices? What are they?”
“They are voices that belonged to men and other beings who have long since passed from Chialis. They were preserved by messengers like me, to help those who must partake of the knowledge of the High Red Path, to prepare those who might be ready for it."
“But why keep it here? In a cave?”
“The cave used to be part of an old city, the very first city in the world. Older than men know, so it was preserved. When the first messenger came here it became what it is today. It is the holiest of places and because of this, it has power. So we preserve it and keep it until the time comes when it will no longer be needed. Only He will know when that time comes."
"Nagilla the Great. He was the first one."
"Yes. The voices may seem strange or startling but there is nothing to fear. The voices there will come forward to help you and recede when you no longer need them. We do not know how long they will remain but most of the oldest of the minor voices there are faded and unintelligible now." Said Saujiah. Rapheth placed the stone cup on the ground before him. He took a deep breath, trembling slightly. The hairs on his flesh prickled in response to his trepidation.
"Saujiah, I am ready."
"Rise then and go your way. May Airend-Ur go with you in all your steps." Rapheth rose and went through the other doorway and descended. Darkness enclosed him like a blanket. After a long time he could hear the faint sound of voices in the distance, bouncing around the cave walls. Light, not springing from any particular source faded in ahead and the walls of the cave grew wider. He recalled to mind the passage of Ishuye and his prayer and of the sayings of the Holy desert father Nagilla and recited them under his breath. A gibbering voice came out of the web of voices but it was faint and spoke in a language he could not understand. Rapheth looked around him but saw nothing nor could he understand how to communicate with it.
"Yes? What is it you have to tell me?" But the voice died away into the river of other voices. I wonder how large the cave is. He thought. Another voice came forth.
"It goes on and on. Forever."
“Lo?” He asked. But whoever the voice belonged to, it too had receded back into the distant chorus of echoes. Rapheth slowly moved on, mystified.
He followed along and reached the bottom of the stair upon which there was a wide dirt road. He walked along it and the ceiling of the cavern seemed to open up to the night sky. The sky seemed so close he thought he could touch it. Then the sky of the cave began to fog up and the air grew colder. He could no longer see except cold mists above him and mists furled around his feet. He was glad he still wore boots instead of his sandals. The writings on his skin pulsed with light and he could feel the heat warming his body. He could now hear and understand some of the voices that before spoke languages too old for him to understand. Many voices were protruding into his hearing range. His mind felt an enormous rush of clarity that gave him a physical jolt. He felt fear then and hoped that whatever entities existed here took pity on his human frailties. His felt his mind now functioning on a higher level and that he should be actively listening for something, something special among the voices.
Mine eye sees everything. Said one.
'"Mine eyes see everything. In the heavens and the world. They are roving about in the world, upon the surface of the ground since the beginning." " He quoted a passage in the book of Zelul. The words of Airend-Ur. Then another, very distinct one came forward.
"Ahaifa. I am one of the eldest sons of God. Twin brother of the unnamed one, who did not hold fast to the Light. I am here to show you the glory of the once and future holy city."
"May I know your name?"
"You may not know my true name, as it is too wonderful for you and I no longer walk the world."
“Who are you?”
"I am who was once was called Yithrail. We are the voices. We guard the Cave of Echoes, while it remains. We have been waiting for the Red King to come. Your mind is ready now, I see."
"You are. . . messengers who have died? Surely messengers cannot die?"
"Only the men who walked the cave have died, their voices are the dead voices. As for the messengers, we were and are angels. Like the stars, we shine brightly in Heaven. When we left Heaven, like the stars we shined greatly until our journeys on Chialis ended and we were called home."
"You said you were twin of the unnamed one. Do you know more of him? Of what he did and why? More than we know of him in the Holy Writings?"
"You are inquisitive. I shall explain but there is nothing much more than you already know. Angels separated from the Divine Source eventually fade away and die. We voices of the cave are the eldest ones. The rebels are dying, though it would not seem so. They are like dying stars for they have become false. True stars never die."
"I ask because he is my enemy and will become my greatest enemy if I am to be a king appointed by God. I would know my enemy, which begins with his name."
"His name, of those who know it, those who worship him, is Shaitan. The one who made himself the very essence of evil."
"Shaitan. Should I feel fright in saying this name?"
"Only in that you would regard his power over Mankind as nil. For then, will he strike at you. He is the father of serpents and of deception. Only a fool turns his back upon a serpent."
"But the very name is evil. That is why we do not say it." Rapheth said timidly.
"I do not say the name to offend or to rouse passion and neither should you but to say that a name is powerful is not the same as treating it as a charm. People use names as charms or amulets in this age. This has nothing to so with why the name has been lost. It is because he reached for what did not belong to him. He made a name for himself that was inappropriate. He did not accept his place in the order of things. He was one of the brightest stars in the heavens and still he was not content. So since he wanted what was due the Father and tried to take it, the glorious name he once had was taken. This is why most people do not remember his true name and he has fostered falsehoods about his present one to instill fear and awe. But it itself is not a charm or a spell. To believe that would give it a meaning it never had in the first place."
"People must know this!"
/> "They will, in time. You will show the way."
"This place so full of power. Can others abuse it? Can he?"
"They would if they knew of it, but they cannot enter without Divine knowledge or approval. Our memories, which is power, is held here. But that is of no consequence to you. What matters now is that we instruct you and posit our knowledge and power in you. I am one instructor of many and you have much to learn Rapheth, young one of many questions. Let us begin."
Chapter Twenty-Five
In my time and guardianship in the Cave of Echoes I learned that the Fallen Ones, once like lights that burned eternally like the rest of us, became like dying stars after the Fall; they lost eternal life and slowly their power began to fade away. They then encouraged Mankind to turn away and they created a second Fall; the Fall of Man. This cutting off from the Source of all power drove the great rebel and Deceiver, Shaitan slowly insane.
- The Book of Nagilla
Rapheth traveled through wind, mist and sand until he reached what looked like a steep cliff. He stood at the apex of a great city.
"Assenna. The mighty city."
"It was once known as the city of King Kaiga."
"Indeed. But Airend-Ur is the Greater Kaiga. Look and see what it will become under your hand if you keep all the law that your God has given you." Rapheth saw the center of the city and its pride and joy, a temple, golden but more beautiful even than the illustrious temple in Jhis and it was of pure white stone and gold. There were palaces of white stone and red stone that stood like proud mountains, their domes of gold and silver and their spires lofty. The streets were paved with colored stones, water fountains of the purest water streamed down from the Holy Mountain through aqueducts. Lemons and orange trees and date palms lined the streets and the gardens in the city. It looked like Paradise - a grand oasis in the arid desert and the people were full of happiness. Rapheth felt a strong wind under him and he was taken up to the tallest tower in the royal palace and it became evening and he was nearly in the sky. He saw round floating stations.
"The fabled star stations!"
"Many great progresses will be made that will benefit the people not only the Middle Kingdoms but the whole world on account of knowledge stored in the universe for man to find." He was then given a glimpse beyond his era of kingship, far into the future when he saw metal ships in the stars.
"What does this mean, Yithrail?" He asked in wonder and awe.
"There will be a third and final dawn of the Reshaim in the far future. Aeons away from now. Then, the glory will never set or fail in Hybron."
"So even under my kingdom things will fail?"
"There must be a cleansing a third time. When things will finally be brought to perfection and reconciled back to Him. That time is not yet but your time is a glimpse of what the whole world will experience. For you see, the first two dawns dealt with the people of God, the Aishanna-La but the third time this glory shall encompass all men and women for they are all his children. It will be the third and final fulfillment." Then Rapheth was shown the great centers of learning, the libraries and schools and the many scrolls and books of alchemy, of drawn figures of these flying machines, of these flying ships that did not look like any ship he had ever seen, of architecture that encompassed the golden numbers, the Golden ratios that unlocked the secrets to perfection and the Divine and that these laws were followed in the music, art and in every single thing until he saw a vast world wide web of beauty, perfection and joy in all the world and in all humanity; its apex and point of flowering from Assenna, Hybron and that many peoples streamed to the great temple that was yet to be built. The secrets the Ainash forbade were revealed to him, the quintessence of all alchemical knowledge, the very perfection of man himself - the perfect man who could travel and see through the fabric of time and space, who could live forever and had complete control over his body, and the world around him but not to abuse or destroy but to create a further flowering of beauty.
"Are there other worlds?"
"There are. Men are not yet ready for these places. To be ready he must master the quintessence of alchemical knowledge. The essence of the White is to live forever and heal every illness. The essence of the Gold is to know the material world and all the things in it. The essence of the Black is control and domination of all things. This last one, Black Alchemy is a distortion of Divine Power. Dominion over all life and creation is only within the rubric of God Himself and was never meant for the angels or for Man. And really, what man deserves that kind of all-consuming power? What man will not be ruined by it? Shaitan convinced some that even this belonged to them and under him it became twisted and black. Thus, Black Alchemy, a perversion of the Divine Power."
"Yet, if that control and power is put to proper use for the good of others it need not be power over others to hurt and harm them."
"This is true."
"Then it should be power over one's own self, power over compulsions and power to preserve life not to destroy for selfish gain."
"And the question becomes who really should have such power? What mortal can withstand it without corruption?"
"One who is chosen, one who is humble, not looking for such things."
"You are wise, Rapheth. Yet, you will have a great work to do once you leave this place. Many cling to old and harmful things."
"Yes," He said sadly.
"I must leave you now. There are other mysteries you must see and they are for others to give." Yithrail then receded into the crush of voices.
Another came forward. A female voice.
"I am Yathmina."
"My Lady, Yathmina."
"Whom shall you marry? For a king needs a queen. God has seen one to be your queen. If you will consent to see and marry her, your royal household will be blessed."
"Let me see her!" The scene changed to a small hill. A woman, lithe and wiry, of copper skin was standing upon it. Thousands were gathered to her. She had a long staff of wood and bone and she was speaking to a great crowd of tribes, men and women. She was dressed in worn, simple desert robes.
"She is the one they call the little mother of the desert because she is so young but she is older than you by some years."
"Who is she?"
"Her name is Anetaliat Anetariath na Seht-Kuyin of the House of Seht and of the House of Kuyin. I shall tell you another thing. She is your cousin. Her mother was an elder sister of your mother, long banished from the family. Niece of Queen Taliat of the House of Seht."
"My cousin. The woman whom my father the prophet instructed?"
"The same one. What do you say? Of course, you may marry any one you choose." He thought upon this for a long time. She was not a refined looking woman, not what he expected, but then what had he expected? He saw her and felt no great longing or lust or love. But still, she was beautiful, in a wild way.
"Marriages have been arranged since the beginning. I bow to the wisdom of God in this matter. For marriage in this case is more than feelings of fleeting love."
"Hold to that. Now for something else. The Red Kings. For centuries they have been hidden in secrecy, who they were, what they were. A curse to the people now, though the comforts many have are due to the great things done during the Veil of Time or what the rest of the world not toiling in vain ignorance of that time calls the Great Age. From the first Red King, Kaiga I and onward there was a fault in the genetic line, a peculiar imperfection. This peculiarity was what led the original priesthood to reject the old ways and create their own sect. They began calling themselves the Ainash - separated men. The great imperfection of the Reshaim was what Airend-Ur chose to use to make a point about the quality of kingship." Rapheth's head was buzzing. He was about to find out after all these centuries what the Ainash had kept secret from the people, why they vilified the Red Kings.
"What was this imperfection?"
"Some of the kings were also queens simultaneously. They were what many call hermaphroditus." Rapheth reeled back in shock.
"You mean. . .both male and female? But why?"
"No imperfection will be cured until after the third dawn. Until then all men must deal with imperfection. Yet this male and female is broken apart, with one now seen as superior to the other. The kingship was promised to an ancestor of Kaiga I and because when Airend-Ur makes a promise He does not go back on His word He worked the imperfection into the promise. The promise that a great, never ending line of kingship will come through him. It has seemed broken at times but it was never broken, only buried threads which are picked up again and preserved through time by Divine Purpose. The aspect of male and female signify that rulership is not just power over men and land but extending mercy and nurturing. The Red Kings embodied both aspects, especially the hermaphrodii. Even in the ones who were not of this way, they embodied all these qualities. Through them, through their kingship they showed the way that when aspects of the male and female are expressed in rulership, there is a flowering of a kingdom and a of people. Flower they did, for centuries."
"And the Ainash hated that?"
"Some priests of the Aishanna-La were overtaken by Shaitan, the first rebel, and were convinced this was an evil thing and they rebelled. A corrupting influence had crept into the priesthood, a notion promoted by a few noble families of the superiority of a few men and that these should be placed above all other men. A demonic idea implanted and encouraged by the wicked one. Because of what the Red Kings taught and because of who they were, these priests went the other way and reviled all the things that made their society prosper. The education of women and their role in worship, foremost in their grievances against the kings and the culture. They saw the hermaphrodii as a gateway to allowing lesser beings into the places of power. They saw this as an affront and sought to stamp it out by the debasement of womankind. The debasement of womankind has debased the entire society."
"Will my own sons and daughters have this imperfection?"
"It existed for a time for a specific purpose. That purpose is going through another fulfillment. Yes, the imperfection, though very distant in you and in the future queen is there. Trust that if God allows a thing there is a good reason for it. And He will reconcile all imperfections in due time. I must go. For you have one more thing to do before you leave this place and another must guide you to it." And this voice receded. It grew dark and misty again.
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